We provided HR advice on an ad hoc, as needed basis to a small, online retailer to help mitigate and manage any people risk and compliance questions.
Running a small business is hard, we get it! Often wearing many hats, a small business owner needs to be on their game and across everything. But being spread too thin, especially when dealing with employee issues, can be costly.
Like many Australian online companies, our client, an online furniture retailer, is a small business that needs to be competitive, agile, and nimble, but still faces all the same employee challenges from their supply staff to warehousing to distribution staff. These challenges, if not addressed properly, pose all the same risks to their business as any other, no matter their size or location.
Our client realised that their business was exposed to risk without proper HR advice, so they engaged us to be their ‘on-call’ HR Manager as the business needed. Like any business, they have employee concerns, issues and questions that pop up from time to time and need an expert’s advice. As a small business, they don’t have the budget or need to commit to an internal HR resource. With us, they have the flexibility to simply pick up the phone and get instant expert HR advice as if they had an HR Manager in their office. It is like a remote HR Manager on call, that they only pay for the time they need.
This is a cost effective, risk mitigating solution for their small business that ensures they can focus on what is really important whilst having strong HR management support behind them. This provides peace of mind that there is quick, instant HR support that can be scaled up or down as need arises.
Through our flexible, on-call HR Manager support service, we have helped our client to address many people management issues including performing management, conduct issues, unauthorised leave and workers’ compensation return to work advice.
Often businesses simply need a sounding board to run a problem past and check if there is any action that needs to be or can be taken in the situation or if there is any potential business risk exposure. Reviewing contracts, agreements, warning letters and preparing documentation and policies has been important to our client to have the flexibility to get immediate support to ensure that they comply with their obligations and act accordingly as things pop up.
Our HR advice clients have the peace of mind that they can pick up the phone and get immediate and highly commercial HR advice and help with solutions tailored to their business.
As they only pay for the time they use, nothing more, there are no unnecessary costs. Direct HR advice without fluff or wasted time.
The business was carrying underperformance and behavioural/conduct issues that have been longstanding and costing the business thousands of dollars, not to mention the impact on the engagement of the rest of their team. We were able to support the business to conduct a compliant process to address the situation. This resulted in a positive outcome: the employee at the heart of the issue was exited, reducing cost and risk to the business.
We also provided HR advice and support regarding a worker’s compensation claim which resulted in a successful return to work plan, minimising unnecessary spend of resources and time for the business in an area that the business was inexperienced and exposed.
